Berman
Berman is one of the most influential jurists in the contemporary United States. He is a world-renowned comparative jurist, international jurist, legal historian, and sociologist. He is an expert on legal doctrine and the most famous pioneer in the field of the relationship between law and religion. He has also had a significant impact on contemporary Chinese legal circles and is a relatively familiar foreign jurist in Chinese legal circles
Chinese name: Harold J. Berman
Foreign name : Harold J. Berman
Nationality: United States
Birthplace: Hartford, Connecticut, USA
Date of Birth: 1918
Date of death: November 13, 2007
Occupation: Jurist
Graduation school: Yale University
Representative works: "Law and Religion" "Law" and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition"
Personal introduction
Harold J. Berman is a famous contemporary American jurist.
Born in 1918 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA.
In 1947, the 29-year-old Berman received his J.D. from Yale University and the following year entered Harvard Law School to teach. By 1985, he went to Emery Law School, where he remained until his death.
Died in New York on November 13, 2007, at the age of 89.
Berman is one of the most influential jurists in the contemporary United States and a world-renowned comparative law scholar. Celebrity, international jurist, legal historian, expert on socialist law, and the most famous pioneer in the field of the relationship between law and religion. He has also had a significant impact on contemporary Chinese legal circles and is a relatively familiar foreign jurist in Chinese legal circles.
Legal Quotes
The law must be believed, otherwise it will be in vain
Personal works
Berman's monograph has been translated into Chinese There are two of them, which can be said to be his masterpieces: "Law and Religion" and "Law and Revolution-The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition". His important works include "Faith and Order: The Harmony of Law and Religion" and "Law and the Second Revolution: The Impact of the Protestant Reformation on Western Legal Tradition".
Professor Berman has received many well-deserved honors. He has written extensively, publishing 25 monographs and more than 400 academic papers. The book that won him the highest academic reputation is "Law and Revolution: The Making of the Western Legal Tradition" (1983). His masterpiece has been translated into German, French, Chinese, Russian, Polish, Spanish, Italian and Lithuanian, and His other works have been translated into 20 other languages. His important works include "Faith and Order: The Harmony of Law and Religion" and "Law and the Second Revolution: The Impact of the Protestant Reformation on Western Legal Tradition".
The one that had the greatest impact on Chinese legal circles was one of his lectures, "Law and Religion." Berman has given lectures and delivered speeches in many countries. As the most outstanding contemporary expert on socialist law, he has visited the Soviet Union and Russia more than 40 times. Berman visited China twice, in 1982 and 2006.
Personal legal thoughts
As some commentators have pointed out, scholars of Professor Berman's generation often have a strong sense of worry, which is an overall worry for Western civilization and also A worry for world civilization. In 1920, when Max Weber, the great German thinker who was sad about the world, passed away with his chivalry at the age of 56 in his academic prime, Berman was only two years old. As early as 1916, two years before Berman was born, Weber put forward the proposition "Protestant Ethics and Capitalist Spirit" that shocked later generations and profoundly influenced academic thought in the 20th century. Weber believed that the reason why the capitalist revolution occurred and succeeded in Western Europe was because Protestant ethics prepared the spirit for the occurrence of capitalism.
This idea and the achievements in social science methodology (such as ideal types, value-free, etc.) profoundly influenced later scholars. Berman was one of Weber's great influences in the field of law. Typical symbol.
However, Professor Berman was influenced by Weber, and their specific research paths and research conclusions are unclear. The core proposition and meta-concept of all Weber's thoughts is the rationalization of the world; and his profound insights into the pros and cons of rationalization made him almost a painfully divided thinker. At the end of "Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism", Weber made a famous prediction: "No one knows who will live in this iron cage in the future; no one knows whether there will be anyone at the end of this amazing development. A new prophet appears; no one knows whether there will be a great rebirth of old ideas and ideals; the final stage of the development of this culture: 'The expert has no soul, the indulger has no heart; this waste fantasizes that it has reached '" Perhaps, Berman responded to Weber's pessimistic prediction throughout his life.
Professor Berman walked alone on what Weber called the disenchantment of the world, trying to find ways to overcome rationalization and even rigidity. He clearly saw the continuation of ancient traditions, and he thought of the possible rebirth of ancient traditions in modern times, and therefore of the possible resistance to the negative side of rationalization.
He looked for ways to soften the rigid bureaucratic rule of the contemporary world from medieval canon law, civil law, customary law and commercial law. He especially looked for the sacred origin of the law from religious beliefs and their rituals, as well as the spiritual foundation that supports it.
“The law must be believed in, otherwise it will be in vain.” This sentence may be the most quoted in Chinese legal circles. The academic thought expressed by Berman behind it is that law and religion share many things. With the same core, such as universality, tradition, authority, and ritual, law "contains not only a person's reason and will, but also his emotions, his intuition and devotion, and his beliefs." . This echoes Weber's disenchantment proposition and can be described as an antidote to the ups and downs of contemporary Chinese rule of law - which is also the underlying reason why "Law and Religion" is so popular in Chinese legal circles.
Berman knows how difficult it is to escape from the cage. Even so, he still did not want to stop at criticism, but wanted to be a prophet like his predecessor Weber. While criticizing the disenchantment of contemporary law, he actively envisioned ways to preserve people's legal emotions. What he was thinking of were the two paths of world law and civil society. He declared with confidence that as mankind enters the third millennium, the original divine history of each nation will gain different views on the basis of reserving differences but not necessarily seeking common ground. The world law that shows style. This approach of revisiting historical jurisprudence is naturally very different from that of ordinary globalization theorists, and it is not surprising that it has a sympathies with many contemporary Chinese law researchers.
Professor Berman has passed away. The world law he conceived has not yet seen traces. Weber’s profound pessimism still hangs high above our heads. However, there is no doubt that we should be grateful to Professor Berman and his benevolent belief in the future of mankind.